Hello everyone, i just bought a lovely 83 z28 for dirt cheap. Interior is perfect and engine and transmission work perfectly, but it is a crossfire 305. I was wondering your guys' opinion on whether i should save the engine and keep it origional since its a rather rare option or swap it? Im not trying to make it a tire shredder so horse power and torque figures dont bother me too much. Just want a nice looking and running weekend car. Thoughts?

 

Sounds like you got a great car. SAVE IT!

How many miles? Any pics?

Once you make sure there are no vaccuum leaks, ***INCLUDING FROM THE INTAKE MANIFOLD LID, all the sensors work and it is otherwise good to go automotively, CFI is a dead nuts reliable system. The functional hood flaps are cool, too!

 

I agree with Chazman. SAVE.

 

 

Picking her up for 700 bucks

 

Looks cool! When I'm able to get a second thirdgen, I'm going to be looking for an 82-84 with the most 80's color combo possible (that black and gold is a great candidate!). Good luck.

 

Personally I can't stand Crossfires. They rarely run right, and when they don't, no one knows how fix them, and/or parts aren't available. Nonetheless, it is a fairly rare car. The biggest problem that I can see (other than rust and needing paint and dash pad) is that the a/c has been removed.

If I had to drive it, I'd swap the CFI for an intake and Q-Jet.

 

Very nice. I wouldn't change it.

 

Can't beat the price! How's it run? There are lots of people here who can help get your CFI running like a top.

 

i went through the same thing with my 82 trans am but the crossfire aint too bad. runs well enough, looks cool, and theres a whole section of crossfire people to help. i say keep it.

 

Save it. Give it a good thorough cleaning inside and out, engine compartment included, and check for any leaks and go from there. And yes, there are plenty of crossfire resources out there especially since the 1982 & 1984 Corvette's had them too.

 

My recommendation would depend on the overall condition of the Crossfire, and your own personal goals.

I HATE seeing cars that have been hacked up for no reason. I LIKE original ones. (in general)

OTOH, Crossfire was arguably the worst fuel injection system GM ever made. Which is no surprise, since it's among the first; experience improved the whole deal. But, that makes it not a particularly shining example of ... anything.

If it's all there, missing no pieces; nothing tore up to the point that it's unsalvageable; and you don't really care about "performance"; then, keep it.

If it's missing parts, damaged or worn out beyond repair, or you want the car not to be a snail, then, evaluate other options. To me, that's what it looks like you've got: a car that's ALREADY a hack job, so one hack job more might not matter.

It's A VIRTUAL CERTAINTY, no one is EVER going to look back at it, and wax all warm-and-fuzzy nostalgic. I can't recall A SINGLE song EVER on the radio about Crossfire for example. (compare to GTO, Mustang, 409, ...) It's just simply not the sort of thing that people are longing to go back to, as a symbol of a "better" time. People might eventually want to go back to the 80s, but it's HIGHLY unlikely that whatever symbol of the 80s they latch onto as "The Thing That Stands For The 80s" will be a car, ANY car, let alone one with Crossfire. Therefore if you hallucinate that people will be knocking down your door trying to give you wads of cash for it "someday" and THAT'S why you think you should keep it, .... DON'T.

If you like it, and it works FOR YOU, then, keep it. Otherwise, make a rational decision.

There used to be some resources for it; don't think too many of them still exist. For example it's just TBI at its core, therefore a later-model FASTER and MORE PROGRAMMABLE computer that can run TBI, could be used to control it. However, if you wanted to do something like that now, I think you'd be pretty much on your own.

 

Not much to add. sofakingom summed it all up perfectly.

If the system is in tact and you don't really care about the overall performance, keep it. At a minimum, if you decide to go another direction at least disassemble the CFI properly and sell it so those who do need those parts have access to them. Especially if the system is working properly.

You just don't see many CFIs out there for reasons everyone knows. It's a conversation piece at best -- but for me that's what makes them sort of cool.

 

 

It looks like the fuel injection is all there. If it runs good, tune it up and leave it. It is a relatively simple system to work on. You may need to do simple things to the system like a new fuel pump, rebuild the throttle bodies, and have the injectors cleaned. Vacuum leaks are the main plague of the system, so replace all the rubber lines, and check the plastic ones. They tend to crack, and you may need to replace those with rubber as well. If you get the bug for more power, you may want to move on to something else. While it is possible to get more power out of it, it would be more economical to go a different route, like an intake and a good 4 barrel. I kept mine because it was nostalgic to me, and I like things original.